Rather than having a handful of sources owned by the elite, we have infinite options to choose from. While it is true that much of internet content is rubbish, much of it is also greatly informative and highly reliable. This is where platforms like Facebook, or Twitter come in. As one user states “when someone in my feed who has built a good reputation for solid recommendations puts up a story, I almost always click on it and rarely regret it.” Indeed a small amount of searching in one’s areas of interest allows one to discern reliable sources from poor ones. Additionally sites like Reddit sort material based on its popularity among people with shared areas of interest. What’s great is how this levels the playing field as anyone with a keyboard, microphone or camera can compete with their high profile counterparts on their own terms.

Thus we have centralized, establishment-controlled newspapers and televisions competing against a free market of free-flowing information that the younger generations are increasingly better at navigating. Best of all, the internet is largely anarchistic. It is not controlled by a single government or corporation, and their are no arbitrary rules restricting the types of voluntary interactions one can have on it. When states try to stop the free flow of information, as was the case with The Pirate Bay earlier this year, new providers take their place.